The Reed Sea and Yom HaAtzmaut

Moshe Kempinski

The holiday of Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel's Independence Day) - the day of Israel's rebirth as an independent country - occurs in a season of blossoming and promise. Passover, too - the holiday of Israel's birth as a people - has classically and Biblically been connected to the season of springtime and rebirth. Passover's message of liberation from spiritual and physical enslavement remains an eternal message. Can the same be said of Yom HaAtzmaut?

The impact of Yom HaAtzmaut and of the State of Israel continues to be complicated and confused. On the one hand, after two thousand years of exile and persecution the scattered remains of a battered people have found refuge on ancient shores. On the other hand, it continues to be a country where much of its leadership has forgotten the dreams and yearnings of thousands of years.

It is a country of conflicting images. On the one hand, we see a hedonistic "wannabe" society festering in the nightclubs of Tel Aviv; on the other hand, earnest and faith-driven young people risking all to continue the vision of their people. On one side, we see young people reveling in the fact that they have succeeded in eluding army service; while on the other, young men and women voluntarily put their lives at risk, and at times sacrifice them, to protect their nation. One snapshot is of young soldiers fighting long battles with terrorists, while the other snapshot shows black-vested soldiers ripping their fellow Jews away from their homes. One image has Yitzchak Rabin walking into the liberated Old City of Jerusalem, and the other has him shaking hands with arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat and heralding the disaster called the "Oslo peace process". We see an image of Ariel Sharon planning homes in the Biblical heartland of Israel, and then we see one of Sharon planning the destruction of the same Jewish homes.

Can an eternal message of hope and redemption come out of such confusion? Is the message of Yom HaAtzmaut a harbinger of an eternal truth, or is it just a secular plastic replica of a two-thousand-year-old spiritual vision?

Yom HaAtzmaut is integrally related to the holiday of Passover. More important, it is connected to the seventh day of Passover, when the Israelites crossed the Reed Sea. Rabbi Shlomo Goren (z.ts.l.), the former chief rabbi of Israel's defense forces, revealed an interesting fact. There is an ancient mystical cipher called At-Bash. The system involves taking the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and switching with the last letter, and then the second letter with the second to last letter, and so forth. Based on this At-Bash system it was found that whichever day of the week the first (or aleph) day of Passover lands that will be the day that that the holiday starting with the last letter of the alphabet (tav) will land. For generations, this system worked for every day of Passover except for the seventh. The seventh letter in the Hebrew alphabet, zayin, corresponds to the letter ayin. Rabbi Goren showed how the word atzmaut or "independence", which begins with letter ayin, solved the dilemma. Whichever day of the week is the seventh day of Passover is also the day of the week on which Yom HaAtzmaut falls.

This could have remained as quaint symbolic exercise if there was not a deeper message and connection involved.

On the seventh day of Passover the Israelites stood at the edge of the Reed Sea. When the Egyptians were coming from the back and the desert was closing in on the sides, they cried out in fear. The Mechilta says that as they stood at the shore of the sea, the people of Israel split into four factions. One faction said: "Let us cast ourselves into the sea." A second faction said, "Let us return to Egypt." A third said, "Let us wage war against the Egyptians." A fourth said, "Let us cry out to G-d."

"And Moshe said unto the people: Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of HaShem, which He will work for you today; for whereas ye have seen the Egyptians today, ye shall see them again no more forever. HaShem will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." (Exodus14:13-14)

Those were powerful words for every one of the factions; and those words continue to stir the hearts of many even unto these days.

Yet, it is the following verse that carries the ultimate power, for it seems HaShem wants and expects more from them: "And HaShem said unto Moshe: Why are you crying out to Me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." (Exodus14:15) The spiritual ingredient which heralded the miracle and tore the sea apart was the fact that the people simply "went forward".

When the tattered remains of the Jewish people returned to their ancient homeland and fulfilled the first part of a clear prophecy in Ezekiel, there was cause for great rejoicing. "Therefore prophesy, and say unto them: Thus said HaShem G-d: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel." (Ezekiel 37)

Yet, it was not long before many Arab nations gathered to attack them; they miraculously survived. There would be many more such threats and dangers heaped on this small land, and the people began to become more and more fretful. Just like at the shores of the Reed Sea.

Some fell into depression and faithless sadness ("Let us cast ourselves into the sea"). A second faction lost the courage to remain steadfast in this land of trials and began to leave the country ("Let us return to Egypt"). A third began to believe that their salvation would simply be a function of their own strength and power ("Let us wage war against the Egyptians"). The fourth said there is nothing we can or must do except to depend on the mercy and redemption of HaShem ("Let us cry out to G-d").

To all those people, HaShem's message is clear: "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." In order to break out of the constraints that bind, the message was to "move forward" to our destiny.

We are seeing clear signs of this "going forward". The country will be defended. Its houses will be built and the land will be settled. The study of Torah will increase. The numbers of people searching for more meaning and a deeper commitment to G-d and His people's destiny will continue to grow.

On Yom HaAtzmaut we celebrate what HaShem has done for us until this time. We will also celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut and go forward with joyful praise and loud singing of the Hallel for what is yet to be. That rejoicing and celebrating of a redemption that has only just begun to blossom is the ultimate "stepping forward" in faith. That rejoicing is integral in making the sea of confusion part. That acknowledgement of the miraculous mercies of the past and the Divine intervention of the future is a key component of moving out of the confusion that envelops this new and developing land.

That is the spirit that was missing in the governments of the last two decades. That is the spirit that will be sorely tested by American President Barack Obama's dangerously naive view of the world. It will be brought under attack by the already defeated regimes of Europe. It is a spirit that will be ridiculed by the faint-hearted and impatient segment of our people.

Yet, we will continue to be thankful for the miracles G-d has shown us, and not fall into the trap of assuming it was solely our might and strength. In spite the self-defeating words, and the brutal and cruel actions, of some of those claiming to be our leadership, we will continue to declare faith in the still small voice of redemption. The naysayers and the critics who will scorn our faithfulness to this piece of G-d's destiny as a way to cover their inaction or lack of courage to live and struggle alongside us will not deter us either.

Only in this way will the next part of Ezekiel's prophecy come into being as well: "And you shall know that I am HaShem, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people. And I will put My spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; and you shall know that I, HaShem, have spoken and performed it, says HaShem." (Ezekiel 37:13-14)

The Cry of Redemption

Moshe Kempinski

The story of redemption always begins with disappointment. The morning seems to always begin in the night, "and it was evening and it was morning, one day." (Genesis 1:5) The greatest blessing seems to always be preceded by wilderness. Why is that so?

After hundreds of years of slavery, the children of Israel in Egypt had lost the courage to dream of freedom. A young Moshe (Moses) ventures out of Pharaoh's palace to explore the state of his people. He sees a Hebrew slave being beaten almost to death. After looking around and seeing that "there was no man around" (Exodus 2:12), he intervenes and kills the assailant. Later, he encounters two Hebrew slaves fighting each other. When he tries again to intervene, he is chastised by one of them and reference is made to the killing of the Egyptian slave-master. Moshe escapes to Midian when he realizes that "the thing is known." (ibid 2:14)

Our sages explain that "the thing" that became known was not just the fact of the dead Egyptian, but also an answer to a question that was perplexing Moshe for a very long time. The "thing" that became clear to him was how low his people had sunk. Were they incapable of raising themselves to achieve liberation? After seeing that there was no man who would be "man enough" to stop the murderous beating of a fellow Hebrew, and that two Hebrew men would refuse to be reconciled, he began to believe that this people were beyond salvage.

So Moses escapes to Midian and he is not heard from for over sixty years. In his despondency, he escapes into anonymity. We read of him again in the Biblical text after he has turned eighty. It is only then - after sixty years of silence - that he is confronted with the mystery of the burning bush on Horev, the mountain of G-d.

Moshe then makes a determined decision to investigate this unexplained phenomenon, a bush burning in a fire and yet not becoming consumed. Moshe thought, "I will turn aside now and book at this great sight, why will the bush not be burned." (Exodus 3:3)

That "turning aside" seemed to be a critical step. We sense its importance in the wording of the next verse: "HaShem saw that Moshe turned from his path to see the sight and He called out to him from amidst the bush." (ibid 3:4) The fact that Moshe turned from his path seems to be significant in G-d's subsequent revelation to Moshe. The Midrash Tanchuma describes G-d as saying, "You made the effort to investigate and see; I declare you are worthy of my revealing Myself to you."

Yet, liberation and redemption awaited a small but powerful "turning" on the part of the people: "...and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up unto G-d by reason of the bondage. And G-d heard their groaning...." (Exodus 2:23-25)

They had been beaten down until they thought that they were beyond redemption. Yet the oppression around them brought out from the depths of their soul one clear and plaintive cry. "And their cry came up unto G-d."

And we then hear: "And G-d heard their groaning."

A cry that burst forth from a deep part of their soul that they are capable of being much more than they are and yearning for much more than they have. That was what G-d was waiting for, a stirring from the people (itrauta delitata).

Throughout the generations, the Jewish people have been enjoined to see themselves as if they themselves are re-experiencing the Exodus. Our sages tell us in the Mishnah (Tractate Pesachim), "In every generation one is required to view oneself as if one personally left Egypt." We need to experience the cry of the oppression around us as much as the joy of liberation. If we are not sensitive enough to feel the need to cry out, events will bring it about.

This month, that cry is being heard again. A young boy, Shlomo Nativ (H.y.d.), was butchered by an axe-wielding Palestinian near his home in Bat Ayin. The cry rises in our midst like bile, "How much longer?"

The newspapers of the world do not feel that it is an important event, but prod Israel to offer more concessions - so that more such events can occur. The enemy surrounds us and has poisoned our friends, and even our Jewish family in the Diaspora; so we cry out again.

Yet, after crying out we must act. If we do not, then our "crying out" is for naught. It then becomes a cry that comes out of pain and not out of yearning. It then becomes the "cry of exile" and not the "cry of redemption". It is only yearning that will put the building blocks of redemption into place.

The greatest blessing seems to always be preceded by wilderness. Why is that so? The night identifies the need and establishes the yearning. It is the yearning that brings the morning. That is the purpose of the cry of redemption. Licking our wounds will do nothing. We must act, and act swiftly and strongly. We must act without regard to the whining of the world around us, which in general has no sympathy for the cry of a butchered Jewish child.

We must act because we have reached the final dayenu - enough!